Amulya Aradhyula was a member of Amaranth cohort. DESIGNATION was able to help her transition from a pixel-pushing design job to a full-fledged UX designer at Sencha.

Where are you now working, and what is your job title?
I work at Sencha as a UX designer.

Tell us a little bit about your new job!
Sencha is a small-ish company that makes tools for developers based out of Redwood City, CA. My role mostly consists of user research, ideation and prototyping.

How would you describe the DESIGNATION experience?
The simplest way I can describe my DESIGNATION experience was that it was eye-opening. I was given access to people and information that I had no idea existed beforehand. My idea of what design is and what I wanted my job to be altered significantly during the course of my time there. It was really fucking difficult, but ultimately changed my entire worldview.

What was the most interesting or useful thing you learned during the cohort?
I learned to ask the right questions. I was given access to a language and a way of thinking that I only had a vague idea of before, so now I at least have a place to start when I need to figure out how to do something.

What are the people at DESIGNATION like (including staff, instructor and fellow students)?
The people were probably my favorite part. Everyone was so intelligent, driven and kind. It would have sucked if they weren’t because we spent 12 hours a day together, but no, everyone was amazing.

“I’d never worked as hard as I did at DESIGNATION and it paid off in terms of how much I grew as a designer.”

What were you doing before you came to DESIGNATION?
I was working an entry level “design” job that mostly consisted of pushing pixels around and trying to convince my company to do user testing.

How did you hear about DESIGNATION, and why did you decide to come?
I heard about DESIGNATION through Sidebar while I was in the process of finding a bootcamp that fit my needs. I was excited about the fact that it was a design-centric program and about being in the first cohort.

How did DESIGNATION help prepare you for your new role?
DESIGNATION gave me the tools I needed to start doing UX at my new job. It also gave me a couple of solid portfolio pieces.

What was your favorite part of the DESIGNATION experience?
My favorite part of the experience is probably a tie between the people I got to work and play with and the intensity of the environment. I’d never worked as hard as I did at DESIGNATION and it paid off in terms of how much I grew as a designer.

What advice would you give to someone who was trying to break into the industry?
I struggled a lot with anxiety just to get started back in the beginning so my only advice would be that you really just have to start making things, even when you know your work is shitty. Everyone’s work is shitty before it gets good and you just have to push through it.